Paradise Stars
by damianmcgintys
Summary: Dameron angst. Cameron is in a coma and as a result, Damian finally realizes his true feelings, but it just might be too late.
1. Part I

**Summary:** Cameron is in a coma and as a result, Damian finally realizes his true feelings, even though it might be too late.

**Warnings:** None really. Some language. Very angsty. Mentions depression.

**A/N:** This is a story I wrote back in December. It's something that means a lot to me because it really hit me on a personal level. I decided to post it on here just so it's more permanent than it feels on my tumblr or on my computer. Hope you enjoy some somewhat sad Dameron. Oh and this first part is more of an introduction.

Paradise Stars

Damian's thoughts drowned out the chatter surrounding him. His eyes drooped and he reached up to rub at them. The realization of how alone he truly was now started overcoming him. He thought that having dinner at his lonely apartment was a good idea, that it would get him out of his deep depression. But as Lindsay laughed at his right, her smooth hand placed casually on his knee in a friendly way, Damian could only feel emptiness. He should have been able to face the fact that Cameron probably wasn't coming back. Not ever. But he just couldn't do it. And it kept him trapped.

Hannah patted his shoulder and he looked blankly into her light blue eyes. They reminded him of Cameron's and he felt a shot of pain through his chest. "You okay, Damo?" Damian just nodded robotically and went back to staring at the floor. Hannah sent Lindsay a worried look. Lindsay sighed and stood up, motioning for Hannah to follow her into the kitchen where Samuel and Bryce stood talking. She figured Damian needed a minute to himself.

Damian felt a tear leak out of his tired eyes. Tears used to be strangers to him. Now they were what woke him in the morning and put him to bed at night. Seeing everyone together again was harder than he had anticipated. Nothing was the same without Cameron's bright smile lighting up the room or his random awkward dancing that would scuff up the hardwood floor. Damian almost swore he could hear the tinkling laugh ringing from the kitchen and smiled a bit through his tears from the memory. He glanced at the picture of his best friend that stood on the coffee table next to a candle.

Damian swiped a tear off his cheek and stood up abruptly, grabbing his coat off the armrest. Lindsay heard movement and ran out of the kitchen to see what Damian was doing. She saw him pulling on his leather jacket and ran towards him. "No! Damian, don't do this to your-" the door slammed in her face.


	2. Part II

Paradise Stars Part II

Damian sped towards the hospital. His hands clenched the wheel tightly, his white knuckles practically glowing in the darkness. Rain pattered on the windshield as Damian blinked away his never ceasing tears. He pulled up to the all-to-familiar hospital and turned the car off. He sat in silence for a moment, wondering if this was the right thing to do. He took a shaky breath and climbed out of the car slowly. He took the usual path towards the wing of the hospital that he hated so much. Even though it held the thing he loved the most.

He approached the gray haired receptionist, wiping the last of his tears away. She looked up from her computer and her eyes widened. "Mr. McGinty! We haven't seen you in a while…" she trailed off, giving him a sympathetic look.

"I know. Good to see you, Carol. Uhm, are Cameron's parents here?"

"No not tonight. They're at their hotel. Do you want to go in and see him?"

Damian bit his lip but steeled himself and nodded. He was relieved Cameron's parents were gone. They were a little too overbearing for Damian's taste. "Okay, sweetie. I think it might do some good." Damian knew she was just trying to make him feel better but it only made him feel worse. Nothing was going to help this. She stood up and walked around the desk to let him into the private wing. "You remember the room?" He nodded again but still didn't say a word.

He was alone in the hall; it was too late for anyone to be visiting. Cameron was an exception though since he was placed there permanently. Damian reached room 24, the room he had practically lived in for all those months. He squared his shoulders and turned the door handle, not breathing.

Damian wasn't sure what he expected; maybe that Cameron would be sitting up watching footy or reading a magazine. He was disappointed when the scene before him was the same as it had been three months before. Tubes trailed from Cameron's nose and throat. A heart monitor beeped in the corner solemnly but still beeping which was something. Damian made his way next to Cameron's bed and stared at his best friend. He looked the same as before it all happened; almost as if he was sleeping. The once-nerdy boy's face was serene and Damian thought maybe he was having a good dream, if he even dreamed.

His hand unconsciously reached down and stroked a lock of Cameron's sandy hair out of his face. His fingers met the scar that trailed from his cheekbone into his scalp. He slid his fingers up and down it lightly, willing Cameron to wake up. Damian would do anything, _anything_ to see those bright eyes stare back at him. "_I'm so sorry_. _This is all my fault_," Damian whispered, finally letting his tears fall again. They splashed on his friend's face. The water trickled down Cameron's cheek and Damian was immediately taken back to the night when everything in his life changed.

The nearby Christmas lights that decorated the street made the California rain glisten on Cameron's relaxed face. He stared up at a break in the clouds, smiling at the bright stars he saw glistening behind the bleak shroud. Damian stared at his profile, a grin spreading. They sat on a park bench, sipping on their fresh Starbucks with the rain sprinkling pleasantly. Cameron wore his snug pea coat and dark skinny jeans as usual. Damian also opted for his own gray pea coat; a bit of Cameron had rubbed off on him since their move to Los Angeles. Damian chuckled which broke Cameron out of his deep revere.

"What's funny?"

"You realize we match don't you?"

Cameron looked Damian over and laughed; it was true. They both had the same colors, styles, everything matching down to a tee. Except for Damian's sleek hair and his own messy locks, as usual. "I guess that's what happens when you spend almost every moment of every day with someone."

Damian smiled brightly at his best friend. "Yeah, but I don't mind spending every second with you. Honestly, this has been the best time of my life," he broke off, hoping he wasn't getting too sappy for Cameron.

"Me too, Damo. I mean all of this has been so surreal. Recording my album, living here, you being on Glee... Tonight is just the icing on the cake."

"What's so special about tonight?" Damian was confused. They hadn't planned anything and it was still a week until Christmas so he wondered what Cameron could be talking about.

"I kind of have a surprise for you," Cameron's eyes shifted downwards.

Damian raised his eyebrows. "Oh really? What is it?"

"Well, if I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise. Come on," he hopped up and pulled Damian's hand. He trotted down the street, Damian struggling to keep up. They jogged for a couple blocks before Damian pulled his hand back, forcing Cameron to stop.

"Seriously, Cam. Where are we going?" Cameron sighed.

"Really I just have something to tell you but I want it to be somewhere special."

"Okay, well can we at least _walk_ wherever this 'special' place is? You're gonna make me spill me coffee."

Cameron laughed at Damian's possessiveness of his coffee and shrugged. He kept moving down the street at a slower pace but didn't let go of Damian's hand. Damian thought that was strange but didn't really think anything of it. Girls could hold hands, so why shouldn't guys? Besides, Cameron's hand was keeping Damian's skin warm. They continued on, Damian racking his brain for any recognition of where they were. They rounded a corner after a while and Cameron finally stopped in front of a large loft building. Damian looked up, completely surprised.

"But this is where we filmed The Glee Project," Cameron nodded. "What are we doing here?"

Cameron looked Damian straight in the face and grabbed the Irish boy's other hand. "Damian, this is where I first realized something that completely changed my life," Damian looked at him, unbelievably confused. He thought he knew everything about Cameron. Why did he have that glint in his eyes? Why was he holding Damian's hands so tenderly? "What I have to tell you is-" he was interrupted by a loud scream behind him. Damian's eyes widened as headlights made their way towards them, a horn blaring loudly. Damian made to pull Cameron out of the way but the tall boy pushed Damian to the side first. Damian landed on his hands and knees, scraping them up badly.

He turned back just in time to see scared blue eyes searching desperately for his own. Cameron whispered Damian's name before everything went black.

"NO!" Damian screamed as he watched his best friend being pummeled into the pavement.


	3. Part III

Paradise Stars

Someone shook Damian's shoulder roughly, jarring him out of his dream. He opened his bleary eyes and stared down at Cameron's hand that he had entwined in his own. He must have fallen asleep the night before, crouched over Cameron's still body.

"Damian, you should go home," Damian looked up to see Cameron's mom gripping his shoulder tightly with a stern look on her striking face. He didn't know why the Mitchells wouldn't let him see Cameron anymore but one day out of the blue a few months before, Cameron's parents told him he couldn't stay at the hospital any longer. Their only excuse was that they were looking out for him, that Damian was wasting his life away on Cameron. Damian could tell there was some other reason but he decided to let it go. It was too hard seeing Cameron's motionless body wasting away every day anyways. So Damian let himself become a shell and tried to forget about everything, which was a lost cause.

"I'm sorry, I know you said I couldn't come anymore, I just-"

"Just don't let it happen again," Mrs. Mitchell interjected. Damian thought he saw a flash of guilt flash pass through her eyes but it was gone as quickly as it appeared. Damian stood and moved to leave the small room but he realized something before he reached the door and turned back to face Cameron's mom.

"Where's Preston?" Damian asked; it was rare that the she and her husband separated. In fact Damian wasn't sure he had ever seen them apart for more than a couple minutes.

"Oh, he's having a discussion with the doctors," she was trying to sound nonchalant but Damian could see pain in her demeanor. Something else was wrong, something big.

"About what?" Damian needed to know what was going on with Cameron, even if his parents wouldn't let him visit.

Cameron's mom wouldn't answer. "_About what_," Damian repeated, louder this time.

"Nothing that concerns you, Damian."

"That's bullshit and you know it," Cameron's mother stared at him with wide eyes, completely horrified. "We were, no, _are _best friends and I have a right to know what is going on with him. I love him more than anyone on this planet and I demand to know what's happening!" throughout his monologue, Damian got louder and louder, causing Cameron's mom to flinch.

Damian stood with clenched fists and a heaving chest, letting all his pent up frustration with the world out on his dying friend's mother. He suddenly felt guilty and shifted his eyes down to the floor, trying to calm himself down. "He's not gonna make it, Damian," a voice came from behind.

Damian whirled around to meet familiar grey-blue eyes framed in the doorway. "What d'you mean?"

Preston replied, "Cameron, he- he's not going to make it. Every day his heart gets worse and his brain activity is next to none. If he did wake up there's a ninety percent chance that he'd be a vegetable, like a baby that will never grow," tears welled in Cameron's father's eyes. Silence engulfed the sickeningly sterile room.

"So what does that mean?" Damian choked out eventually.

"We think we might pull the plug," Damian could see the hurt on Cameron's dad's face but still couldn't feel sympathy for him. How dare he give up?

Damian shook his head back in forth, disbelief clouding his features. "No. You can't just give up. There's always another way. There has to be."

"Look, Damian I know it's hard; I know you loved him but-"

"No, don't give me that crap. You don't care about what Cameron and I had. You think I'm not good enough, right? That all he needs is you? Well you're wrong, Cameron felt more at home with me here than he _ever_ did back in Texas," Damian regretted his harsh words right when he said them. He could hear Cameron's mom sobbing behind him and he closed his eyes, feeling his own tears forming once again.

"We know," Preston whispered.

"What?" Damian's head shot up.

"I said, we know. We read everything Cameron felt about you. We know the… _relationship_ you had."

He said relationship like it was a dirty word. "What are you talking about?" Damian asked.

"I'm talking about you and our _son_ being romantically involved."

Damian's eyebrows shot up and he let out a scoff. "Romantically involved? Cameron and I were just friends," Damian couldn't believe what was happening. Why would they ever think that?

"Then what's this?" Cameron's dad pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "I've kept it on me since I found it in Cameron's room back in Texas," He held it out for Damian to take. His eyes moved down the page, becoming more stunned with every word.

Damian,

I've never told you how I really feel about you. I'm scared that you won't feel the same way. I'm determined to tell you when we're in LA. But for now, I'll have to write this fake letter so that maybe I can let go of some of my pain. Maybe this will give me the courage I need to tell you.

I'm in love with you. I have been since the first time I looked into your eyes. You stole me away from everything I ever knew but I let you. I want you to take me away from my life in Texas. From all the people who never understood me. I want us to grow old together. I know you'll probably never feel the same way but you don't know what I would kill to feel your lips against mine, just once. Just once so I can feel the love that I've yearned for my entire life.

No matter what your reaction is when I tell you, all I can hope for is that you know that I love you with all my heart and until the second I stop breathing, that will never change.

Forever,

Cameron

Tears rolled onto the page as Damian read, causing the ink to smear. The letter was short but it may as well have been a novel. It said everything that Damian needed to hear. All of his questions were answered. This was what Cameron was going to say to him that night. Damian re-read the letter to make sure he didn't make the whole thing up. Cameron loved him. _Really_ loved him. And at that moment as Damian gazed down at Cameron's scarred face, he knew that he did too.


	4. Part IV

**A/N:** For those of you who have read this before, I combined parts IV and V because they were so short. So no I am not missing a part. Carry on!

Paradise Stars

Damian felt his knees go weak. He collapsed into the nearest chair, his hands still clenching tightly to the letter. The tears stopped and he looked up at Cameron's parents. Their expressions were a mix of shock and anger.

"You had no idea?" Cameron's mom whispered.

Damian shook his head. "Dammit, I knew we shouldn't have shown him," Preston said more to himself than his wife.

"So this is why you wouldn't let me see him? This is why I've been sitting at home depressed for _months_? Because you couldn't accept who your son loves?" no one replied. Preston held his head up high and avoided Damian's red hot glare.

"Get out," Damian whispered menacingly.

"_Excuse_ me?" Cameron's father spat back.

"I said, get. The. Fuck. Out," Damian stood up with clenched fists, ready to hurt Cameron's dad in any way possible.

"Sweetie," Cameron's mom pulled on Preston's sleeve. "Let's just go for a while. We need to speak anyways," she could see the pure rage in Damian's eyes. "Let's _go_."

"Fine," Preston pointed a finger in Damian's face. "But you better be gone when we get back."

Damian swatted his hand away, disgusted. When the door closed, Damian fell onto Cameron's bed with shaking shoulders. He read the letter again and took a deep breath in a weak attempt to calm himself. He didn't mean to explode at Cameron's parents but he was just so frustrated, with everything. What if that car had never hit Cameron? They would probably be happily dating by now, holding hands and going to the movies, kissing each other goodnight.

Damian read the part of the letter that really killed him. '_I love you with all my heart and until the second I stop breathing, that will never change._' Damian held back a sob and clutched Cameron's hand tightly. If Cameron's parents pulled the plug, Cameron would stop breathing. Damian would never get to tell him that he loved him too. And what was he supposed to do? Move on as if nothing ever happened? "Cam, I know you're in there. Please wake up._ Please_." He closed his eyes and prayed that when he opened them, Cameron would be awake. He opened them, expecting the best but found the worst.

He took a shuddering breath and leaned his forehead against Cameron's hand. He kissed it softly. "I love you, Cam. I always will. And I'm not giving up on you. I never will. I promise you."

Damian stood and found a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote a short note to Cameron's parents, apologizing and begging them to wait. He asked them to call Damian before they made their decision. He knew it probably wasn't a good idea to be in the room when they got back so he picked up his coat, glanced at Cameron's face once more, and slipped out the door with hope pounding through his chest.

The next few days passed in a haze. Damian spent all his time researching ways to wake up people from comas. He read every detail of dozens of reports on cases where people woke up but they hardly ever had any concrete way of waking people up from the constant sleep. Some experimental studies said that familiar things from their lives would wake patients up but Damian didn't know what he could do for Cameron that was strong enough.

He slammed his laptop shut in anger and picked up his phone. He called the hospital for the hundredth time to make sure Cameron's parents hadn't pulled the plug yet. They hadn't and Damian relaxed a little. But his hope was slipping away and he was sure Cameron's parents wouldn't wait much longer. He picked up the most promising article he had found about a boy who woke up from a yearlong coma when his parents played him his favorite song. The story was short and had no scientific proof but it was all Damian had to go on.

Damian decided that if Cameron were to wake up, it was going to be tonight. If he didn't, Damian would just have to let go and say goodbye. Damian got up from the couch, crumbs from the chips he'd been living off of fell to the floor. He glanced in a mirror on the wall and saw a ghost of himself. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy from crying and his hair fell in greasy strands around his face. Stubble shadowed his sallow cheeks. A stranger was famed in the mirror, someone he didn't know. Without Cameron, he was nothing.

He made his way into the bathroom and flipped on the shower. The hot mist cleansed his face while he scrubbed shampoo through his scalp. He allowed his mind to wander for a minute and he recollected the first time he saw Cameron. They bumped into each other at callbacks. Their eyes met. Now that Damian thought about it, he understood what Cameron said in his letter about him falling in love the moment their eyes met. In truth, Damian had too; he just didn't realize it until now. And what terrible timing it was. Damian hopped out of the shower and dried off meticulously He wanted to be as prepared for tonight as he could.

A half an hour later, Damian found himself outside Cameron's hospital door with his guitar case in hand. The one productive thing that Damian did over the months was learn how to play guitar. He did it so he could maybe feel closer to Cameron while he was gone. Tonight it was going to be his last hope in waking Cameron up.

He strode in with his head held high. Cameron's mom started in her seat next to Cameron's bed. "Oh, Damian, you scared me," Preston was nowhere to be found.

"Thank you," Damian wanted to get this out of the way.

"What?"

"Thank you. For not killing your son yet."

"Yes, well, his brain activity rose quite a bit while you've been gone."

She was being uncharacteristically nice. "Good. That's good… Look, Mrs. Mitchell, can I have a moment in here? I wanted to play him something," he motioned to the guitar at his side.

"You know he can't hear you, right?"

"No, I don't know that," he was being harsh and he knew it but he just wanted to see if this would work so he could move on.

"Right well I'll leave you to it," she shut the door behind her quietly.

Damian unclasped the case of Cameron's guitar and slung the strap across his shoulder. He played a few chords to get his fingers warmed up, still not looking at Cameron. When he felt ready, Damian turned around and stood above Cameron's bed to stare at the angelic face that had swum in his dreams for so long. His fingers ran down the scar again and Damian felt his fingertips tingle. "This is it, Cam. It's now or never."

He took in a slow, steady breath and began the chords that rang so true to his past. Night after night, Damian would hear Cameron playing this in his room. He never understood why, it was such a somber love song and Cameron was supposedly happy with Macy. But Damian knew now, Cameron had been singing it to him.

_Come on, skinny love, just last the year…_

Damian lost himself in the song. He didn't hear himself playing it, instead he heard Cameron's voice in his head. He used to sit in the hall outside Cameron's door, just listening to him sing the song with a pain so tangible it hurt Damian's heart. And now _he_ was singing it to Cameron to keep him alive.

_Who will love you?_

_Who will fight?_

_Who will fall, far behind?_

A tear dropped from Damian's cheek. The song was almost over. He willed Cameron to wake up, to move a finger, anything. He played the last note, holding it out as long as possible. Nothing happened. Cameron was gone forever. Damian knew in his heart that there was nothing left to do. With unsteady hands, Damian packed up the guitar, setting it next to the bed. He gazed at Cameron's pale face for a few minutes longer, wishing he could see his eyes one last time. He would have kissed Cameron, just to see if it would wake him up like in the movies but the one tube keeping him alive was the tube trailing from his mouth. Damian sighed and pressed his lips to Cameron's forehead.

"Goodbye, Cam. I'll love you until the day I stop breathing." Tears streamed as Damian turned his back on his best friend and walked in a daze out of the room.

If he had waited two more seconds, Damian would have seen Cameron's pinky twitch, just a tiny movement in the direction that Damian had been sitting.


	5. Part V

Damian pulled the covers tighter around his head. Sobs shook his entire body and he could barely open his puffy eyes from the incredible amount of crying he had been doing. The phone rang for the hundredth time that day and he ignored it for the hundredth time. He felt completely lost in a world of pain. Memories of Cameron swam in his hazy brain and Damian didn't stop them from ripping him apart. He knew it was only torturing him more but what point was there of being happy if Cameron wasn't there to share it with him?

His cellphone rang yet again and Damian grabbed it off his nightstand, chucking it across the room. It shattered but Damian didn't even give it a thought. The broken pieces probably resembled his heart. A pounding came from the door of the apartment. Lindsay had been coming every day for almost a week, screaming for him to come out. At least he assumed that was what she was saying; it was too muffled to understand.

Damian couldn't bear to talk to anyone. He didn't want anything to do with the funeral. He just knew that they were trying to get him to go but he just couldn't do it. Since that day in the hospital when Cameron wouldn't wake up, Damian was a recluse, lost in his own suffering.

The pounding continued and Damian curled into a ball, tugging at his hair. He wanted to be alone with his thoughts and not deal with other people coddling him like a child. The banging grew louder and more separated, as if someone was throwing their weight against the door. Damian slinked farther under the sheets. A huge crash sounded in the entry way but Damian still didn't move. Maybe they wouldn't find him. He knew it was pointless to hide now but he did anyways.

Footsteps came down the hall, more than one pair. He peeked out of the top of his blankets and saw Bryce, Samuel, and Lindsay staring angrily at him. Lindsay had her arms crossed like she always did when she was mad and Bryce was rubbing his shoulder; he must have been the one to knock the door down.

"Fuck off," Damian mumbled, turning back over to face away from them.

"No, Damian, you're getting up. _Now_," Lindsay replied with ice in her voice.

"What's the point? I don't have any reason to live anymore."

"_What's the point? _Have you not listened to _any _of our messages?"

"No," he already felt himself falling back into the uncontrolled mess from a few moments before. He couldn't handle hearing the words aloud.

"Then you should come with us," Bryce said seriously. Damian detected a hint of happiness in his voice. How could he be happy when the only person in the world who really mattered was dead? Lindsay pulled the covers off of him swiftly.

"No. I won't go to the funeral. You can't make me," he shot up, a burst of anger fueling his energy.

Lindsay jumped backwards and gasped at Damian's meager state. He was pale, sickeningly skinny, and the sallowness of his cheeks gave him the appearance of a ghost. "Damian, Cam isn't dead. He woke up."

The words passed through Damian like air. They were only telling him that so he would leave with them. "You think that's _funny_? Telling me my best friend is alive when I very well know he's dead? You're sick. Now get out," he pointed furiously out the door.

Samuel raised an eyebrow. "Damo, listen, it's true. Just come to the hospital and see Cam. He's been asking for you constantly. He wants to see you."

Damian shook his head, still not believing. He turned resolutely away, leaning his hands against his desk, feeling tears leak down his face again. "Damian," Lindsay's voice softened and she walked behind him, resting her hand on his back. "Please, just come with us. I know you love him so just come see him. I promise we're not lying to you."

Damian took a raspy breath and ran his hands through his hair, pulling on it again. His lip trembled. "Here, put on a coat. It's cold out tonight," Samuel held out Damian's jacket and he took it reluctantly. He still didn't believe them but maybe he should go to the funeral. Say his final goodbyes.

Bryce, Samuel, and Lindsay flocked on either side of Damian to ensure that he wouldn't try to run away. They stepped through the doorway. The wood by the handle was splintered but Damian hardly cared. He breathed in the night air. The wind brushed his tear-stained cheeks as he stared up at the bright stars. Damian wondered what Cameron was doing up there. Probably playing his guitar or singing with John Lennon, completely happy. Over the past week, Damian spent most of his time staring at the stars. To Damian, they were paradise stars. The only things that gave him any comfort.

Lindsay sat in the back of Bryce's car, holding Damian's hand in what she probably thought was a comforting way. It only made Damian feel worse because he wished it was Cameron's hand in his own. Like that last night they spent together, running down the busy street without a care in the world. He pulled out of Lindsay's grip and crossed his arms, staring out the window somberly.

The car ride was completely silent and Damian could tell he was losing control again. He dug his fingers into his arms to try to stop from crying again. It failed. A whimper escaped and his chest shook from his forced breaths. "Oh, don't cry, please. You should be happy about this!" Lindsay rubbed Damian's arm reassuringly.

"Take me back. I can't do this. I can't see him get lowered into the ground. I just can't, take me back," he became less and less understandable as he rambled on.

Lindsay hugged his shoulders. "Shh, shh, he's fine, Damian, it's okay. Look we're here, you'll see."

He looked out the window to see the hospital looming above him. He shook his head violently, humming disturbingly. "No, no, no. I can't."

"Guys, help me out here?" Lindsay looked desperately from Samuel to Bryce.

"Damian if you don't come up willingly, we'll just make you," Bryce threatened.

Damian looked down, biting his lip uncertainly. What if they were telling the truth? He slowly opened the door and stepped out as if he hadn't walked in years. He was led in a daze to the room that had haunted his dreams for the past week. The last time he would ever see Cameron was in this room. Damian didn't understand why they took him here. Cameron was gone and they were just making it harder to accept.

"Go in," Lindsay whispered.

"Why? He's not there."

"Yes he is. Just go in."

Damian contemplated his options. Bryce and Samuel would just force him if he didn't oblige. And they could be right. He wanted them to be, even if he didn't believe it. "Fine. But I know you're wrong. This is only making things worse," Lindsay didn't reply, just motioned towards the door.

Damian grasped the cold door handle, his heartbeat quickened to a frightening pace. He turned it slowly. The two seconds it took to open the door passed in slow motion. He didn't know what to expect when he would open his eyes. His breath caught in his throat as he stepped through the doorway. He couldn't look up. Damian didn't want to see the corpse of his best friend, it would kill him. But after a painful breath, he brought his eyes up slowly and a weak voice sounded out.

"_Damian_."


	6. Part VI

"_Damian._"

The whisper struck every nerve in his body. Damian was frozen to the spot. He stared into the face that he had been craving for, longing for. It was smiling and bright and everything good in the world. Cameron was alive, breathing, heart pounding and veins pumping. Why wasn't Damian jumping for joy, pulling Cameron into his arms and bawling like a baby?

"Damian, say something," despite the fact that Cameron had been the one in a coma and almost died, he was still the one caring for Damian with that same worried look on his face that Damian loved so much. He tried to speak but nothing would come out. He could only stand there at the foot of Cameron's bed, his jaw to the floor. A single tear leaked out, splashing on the toe of his shoe.

"Don't cry, please, you'll make me cry. Just come here," Cameron held his hand out, reaching for Damian longingly. Like a ghost, Damian drifted to Cameron's side, still processing the fact that the one thing that had seemed so incomprehensibly impossible for all these months was happening. There was such a mix of pain and wonder and excitement that Damian felt he might explode.

Cameron took the Irish boy's hand into his own, the IV trailing into one of the many machines surrounding him. Tears swam in Cameron's tired blue eyes. Damian reached out slowly and stroked his fingers down Cameron's scar and blinked out more tears. "I'm so sorry, Cam," Damian whispered out, his hand cupped Cameron's cheek.

"Don't be sorry, this wasn't your fault. If anything it's mine."

Damian shook his head. "No, it's not. Nothing could ever be your fault," he threw himself onto Cameron's bed and pulled his best friend's torso into a tight, loving hug. Cameron started laughing and sobbing uncontrollably into Damian's lithe chest.

After a few minutes of just sitting there in a tight and emotional embrace, Cameron began the speech he had been planning over and over in his mind for the past week. He pulled Damian away so he could stare into his mesmerizing eyes. "You know, I don't remember any of the past few months. Nothing except flashes. It was always just bits of your voice, talking to me, trying to get me to wake up. I wanted to say something back, anything, but I couldn't," Damian felt a pang through his chest. "Then there was nothing for a while. Just darkness. It was agonizing. At that point I just wanted to let go. I thought you had left me, given up. Then the other night I heard you yelling. Something about me and you. It hurt so bad, Damo, it nearly killed me to hear you so upset," Damian's tears fell quicker and Cameron reached up to stroke them away. Damian held his hand in place and kept listening to his story. "But then I heard you sing. And I wanted to wake up more than I ever had. That song just brought me back to when…" Cameron didn't want to freak Damian out so he didn't tell him why the song meant so much. "Well it brought me back. _You _brought me back. So thank you."

Cameron slid his hand off Damian's cheek and stared at his palms, embarrassed by his heartfelt monologue about how his best friend singing him a love song brought him back from Heaven's gates. Damian chuckled and Cameron stared at him, confused. "After being in a coma, you're _still _embarrassed by something like that?"

"Well yeah, I am a dude."

Damian laughed again. "You're unbelievable, ya know that?"

"I've heard it a time or two."

It was as if nothing had changed. Damian was laughing and smiling with Cameron as if he had never been hit by that car. But things _had_ changed. Everything had changed. Damian's smile faded and it was his turn to blush. What if Cameron didn't feel the same way as he did before it all happened? What if he didn't love Damian _that _way anymore? "Tell me what's wrong, tell me what's been happening," Cameron said quietly. He could see pain shadowing Damian's ghostly features. He was so healthy that night and now he looked like a zombie; Cameron couldn't imagine what Damian had been going through.

"Well, it's been tough, Cam. I was dealing okay until your parents banned me from seeing you," Cameron grimaced.

"Yeah I heard about that. That's why I sent them home. Tell me more."

"I really missed you. I mean, really badly. I got depressed and stopped eating. I kinda just sat around, waiting for you. Then last week, I had to see you. It was killing me. Literally. And then your parents were here and, well, they gave me this," Damian pulled the worn letter out of his pocket and handed it to Cameron.

"Oh, God," Cameron was horrified. Damian knew and now he wouldn't even want to be his friend anymore. "So that's why you wouldn't come and see me."

"No! No, Cam I thought you were dead," he held Cameron's face in his hands. "Your parents said they were gonna pull the plug and I thought they had. Nothing would ever keep me from seeing you if I knew you were alive."

"So you're not totally weirded out? I'd get it if you never wanted to see me again…" he trailed off, fearing the worst.

Damian rubbed his thumbs along Cameron's cheekbones. He didn't know how to reply. He glanced down at the letter and remembered something. "In that letter, you said you would die to kiss me," Cameron turned crimson but nodded a little. Damian scooted closer so that he could feel Cameron's breath against his face. "Well so would I."

Cameron's breath hitched as Damian moved forward so their noses were touching. "I'm in love with you," Cameron breathed out. He needed Damian to hear it, not just read it off some letter from over a year ago.

"I am so deeply and completely in love with you too," Damian replied. He closed the gap between their lips and soared. Every inch of his body felt light as a feather. His head spun and his mouth was on fire. Cameron's toes curled as he felt Damian's rough lips pressed against his own. The ache in his body disappeared, evaporating into nothingness. All he had ever wanted was for Damian to love him. And he realized at that moment, with their lips together, that this night was the night that he was truly woken up, not one week before. All he ever needed was Damian.

Damian pulled back and smiled with his forehead pressed against Cameron's. "I was nothing without you. Absolutely nothing."

"Well I'm here now."

"Yes you are," Damian kissed Cameron again. It was just a peck but it somehow solidified how they felt, like a promise for the future. "So you're gonna be okay?" Damian asked.

Cameron nodded. "_Everything_ is going to be okay."


End file.
